How to Use Content to Make the Most of Your Next Event
Brought to you by WBR Insights
Content is the white-hot blood that flows through the arteries of any event. Providing your guests with amazing speakers, films, panels, and more ensures that those who buy tickets for your event are kept engaged at every stage of their attendance journey.
However, you may not have considered the impact content can have both before and after your event. We now live in an age where technologically-savvy consumers and businesspeople like to research products and services online ahead of making a purchasing decision—and conference tickets are no exception. In fact, 96 percent of attendees have stated that they look for information about events online prior to attending.
One of the core tenets of business is repeat custom, and content delivered after your event can help in this regard as well. Using content to make sure your audience is satisfied and remains engaged with your brand until the next event can be key to making sure they keep attending in the future.
Pre-Event Content
At the top of the list for your pre-event marketing strategy should, of course, be high quality written content such as blog posts, articles, white papers, and eBooks. These content formats allow your event brand to communicate just how much you understand the industry served by your event and convince prospects that it will contain innovative and insightful material they can put to work in their own businesses.
You can also use written content to promote the brands speaking at your conference. Craft expertly written journalistic articles that show why the brands you have on board are innovators and disruptors in their respective industries. This will build excitement among prospects, and they will be more likely to want to attend and hear what their representatives have to say.
83 percent of marketers believe that video is growing in importance, and 53 percent of consumers engage with a brand after viewing a video. Pre-event video content is an amazing way to connect with your audience and start to build hype among them.
The best thing about video content is that it doesn't necessarily have to take the form of highly polished and well-produced material. In fact, much of the appeal of video comes from its often rough and ready nature, which lends itself well to creating some behind-the-scenes type footage. Showing behind-the-scenes details of your event planning can help your potential attendees feel more involved in the process, like they're getting access to VIP insider secrets.
You can also provide video content more directly connected to the event itself. Footage which gives your audience a tour of the event location or interviews with selected speakers are a fantastic way to build excitement.
Don't forget that locking off some of your content behind a registration wall is a fantastic way to get prospects to hand over their contact details and help with your lead generation process.
Post-Event
Once the dust has settled and you're recovering from another successful event, you may think it's time to put your feet up and relax, but nothing could be further from the truth. Post-event is the time to put your content marketing hat back on and make sure you engage with your (hopefully) satisfied guests.
The first port of call for your post-event content strategy should be a guest satisfaction survey. Thankfully, due to several free online platforms, creating a digital survey and emailing it to your entire guest list has never been easier. A survey lets your guests know you care about your feedback and sends a strong message that you are constantly looking to improve on what's gone before—i.e. next year's event will be even better than the one they've just attended.
Post-event interviews and case studies are another great way of letting people know what an amazing experience it was. Here is where video content can come to the fore once again. It can help people reminisce on the event and keep it fresh in their minds. When you deliver this content, consider including a special offer if the viewer books tickets for the next event early—people will be more likely to book again while the previous event is still ringing in their ears.
Final Thoughts
Whether before, during, or after your event, you should never miss an opportunity to connect with your audience. Engagement is key to modern business. With written content, videos, surveys, and more, you will make sure that each event you put on will be more successful than the last.
WBR Insights is the custom research division of Worldwide Business Research (WBR), the world leader in B2B-focused conferences. Contact us to learn more about our research-based whitepapers, webinars, digital summits and other thought leadership opportunities for your brand.